What’s ahead? NFL owners to meet about upcoming season
What’s ahead for the NFL in 2021? Not even the teams know.
They’ll begin finding out this week when the 32 team owners hold virtual meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Two items top the agenda: increasing the regular season to 17 games and decreasing preseason games to three per team. Both are nearly certain to be approved after a pandemic-stressed season that severely cut into the league’s revenue stream.
Many players, however, aren’t thrilled with the idea.
“We really let this happen,” tweeted safety Adrian Amos of Green Bay.
Saints star running back Alvin Kamara called the increase to 17 games “dumb.”
Regardless, it’s about to happen. The owners want it and don’t need the union’s permission. The media partners who just spent about $10 billion annually for NFL rights fees will get more content that counts, and fewer exhibition games.
With the preseason reduced, plans basically call for a bye week after the final August games and before the season begins in the second week of September. Also coming is a reduction in such offseason events as minicamps, organized team activities and preseason work.
“There will be automatic changes to the offseason and in-season workout schedules as a result,” said George Atallah, the NFL Players Association spokesman.
Just how expansive those changes will be is uncertain. By early April, clubs with new coaches — this year, the Jaguars, Texans, Jets, Chargers, Eagles, Lions, Falcons — normally are meeting with players before the entire league begins OTAs. All of that occurred remotely until training camp last year.
“I’m not that concerned about it, honestly,” new Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “If there was a concern, it would be strength and conditioning, that part of it, and your guys working together a little bit. But if that’s the case, you give them a plan and you keep tabs on them and make sure they’re staying on top of what they need to do.
“But listen, we’re not going to use that as an excuse for us. If we can’t start until training camp, then you know what, we’ll be ready to go and we’ll hit the ground running and we’ll get what we need to get out of it and adapt as fast as possible.”
League and union research has revealed that the games with the most injuries are in the preseason. Dropping one exhibition, the NFL believes, removes the most vulnerable game for players and replaces it with a week of regular-season practices and a game.
Logano takes the checkered flag in a haze of Bristol dirt
BRISTOL, TENN. » Somewhere under the thick red haze floating over Bristol Motor Speedway, Joey Logano took the checkered flag for NASCAR’s first Cup Series race at a dirt track in 50 years.
He couldn’t see much — visibility was next to nothing during this Monday dust storm — but Logano clung to the familiar bottom lane around the bullring to collect the checkered flag on this NASCAR experiment.
Logano got a jump on Denny Hamlin on the overtime restart to earn his third career victory at Bristol. But this was not the Bristol of old, the track had been covered with 2,300 truckloads of red Tennessee clay so that NASCAR could add a dirt track to the Cup schedule for the first time since 1970.
“How about Bristol on dirt, guys! This is incredible,” Logano said to the crowd, a reduced capacity sellout of about 30,000 fans.
“There’s nothing like winning at Bristol, but putting it on dirt and being the first to do it is very special.”
Logano became the seventh race winner through seven races this season and gave Team Penske backto-back victories. Ryan Blaney won in a Penske Ford last week.
The Logano victory closed a weekend of uncertainty and even some hysteria as NASCAR launched this drive through the dirt. It was broadcast partner Fox who wanted a dirt race on the Cup schedule and Speedway Motorsports, seeking some new energy at its beloved Bristol bullring. said it would take the race.
Overseas Tokyo ticket holders may get only partial refunds
TOKYO » Many fans living outside Japan who bought tickets for the Tokyo Olympics from brokers — known as Authorized Ticket Resellers — will not get full refunds. And they may have a long wait to get any refunds at all.
The question of refunds came into play a week ago when local organizers and the Japanese government decided to bar most fans from abroad because of the pandemic.
There are dozens of Authorized Tickets Resellers. They are typically appointed by national Olympic committees and are allowed to charge a 20% handling fee on tickets. For $2,000 worth of tickets, for instance, the reseller can charge $2,400.
CoSport, the ATR for the United States and other territories and countries, said in a letter over the weekend to ticket holders that it would not refund the handling fee. It said it would refund the face value of the ticket and the shipping fees.
The letter, signed by CoSport president Robert F. Long, said: “CoSport and other Olympic entities encouraged the Japanese government and organizers to refund all cost incurred by international spectators.”
Barty goes distance, tops Azarenka to reach Miami quarters
MIAMI » Ash Barty is tough to beat under any circumstances, especially when she’s on the ropes.
She proved that Monday.
The world’s top-ranked player has reached the Miami Open quarterfinals, getting there by holding off 14th-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-1, 1-6, 6-2. It was Barty’s 17th win in her last 20 three-set matches, two of those victories for the Australian coming so far in this tournament.
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